How To Be Brave [Red&Snow, 0/??]
Title: How To Be Brave [prologue].
Fandom: OUaT.
Pairing(s): Little Red Riding Hood x Snow White.
Rating: M.
Word Count: 594.
Warnings: AU after "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." (In linear timeline, so, before she meets Charming).
Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT, or any of its characters. :)
“Promise you’ll never leave me.”
The woman in white kissed the woman in red as they lay sprawled in the snow, a tangle of limbs and skirts and delicious fatigue. Breathing came in hushed puffs that pillowed into a mass of steam and hovered above their faces like a cloud. Cheeks chapped pink spread to make way for mischievous smiles as the women shared a private gaze, fingers locked as tight as the vow that brought them here.
“I’ll never leave you,” the white whispered; giggle evaporating as she placed a tender hand on the red’s face to soothe her. “Never, ever, ever.”
The red says nothing, staring at the white with big, luminous eyes. After a moment of silence she ventured, timidly, “Aren’t you scared?”
“Of course,” the white said quickly, “it’s just that I’ve been on the run so long that I’m used to it.” But seeing that this didn’t at all comfort the red, the white made an attempt to elaborate. “The fear is always there, Red. You can’t run from it, but you can get to a point where you’re strong enough to face it.”
The red shook her head and sighed loudly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get there. I’m always scared.”
“You’re one of the bravest women I know,” the white corrected, capturing her lips in a sweet kiss. “And I wouldn’t lie about that,” she added on the release. But the red still suffered from apparent disquietude, so the white launched into another firm assurance. “Red, I mean it. We’re going to be okay. I promise. I would never let anything happen to you.”
“I know,” the red said softly.
“I’ll never leave you.”
“I know.”
. . .
Snow White sits alone in the cold and stares up at the full moon, hands knitted into an anxious knot on her lap. “I’ll never leave you,” she whispers, just as fervently as she did all those nights ago. A nagging pain throbs in her chest with renewed vigor and she is powerless to defend herself against it. The princess closes her eyes and lets the agony rend through her body, till it tingles smartly all the way from the tips of her toes to the crown of her head. Tears escape from behind her eyelids and pool at the corners of her mouth, the bitter taste of salt leaking onto her tongue. She ignores it.
A wicked howl sounds in the air and terror clutches at Snow’s heart, something she hasn’t felt in a long time. She summons the energy to take a deep, slow breath and steels herself against the inevitable. She will be brave. She will be strong. She owes Red that much.
It isn’t until she hears a low growl and rustle coming from the copse of dead trees behind her that she screams--and even though she is screaming, all she hears is the promise she made to Red that night, over and over in her head like some kind of desperate apology:
“I’ll never leave you.”